Savoury berbs for the reapers Allia ferpyllumque herbas contundit.olentes.. wearied with the rapid beat. But whilst I pursue your feps At mecum raucis, tua dum veftigia luftro, under the burning fun, I join Sole fub ardenti refonant arbufta cicadis. with the boarfe cicadae in mak- Nonne fuit fatius triftes Amaryllidis iras ing the trees refound.. Was it not better to endure the bitter anger of Amaryllis, NOTES. earthen pan. This Ruaeus thinks to be very infipid, and not without reafon. But Catrou feems fond of this interpretation, and indulges himself in an imagination, that Theftylis or rather Teftylis was Virgil's mother. It feems that old Tityrus, the Poet's father, of whom we heard fo much in the firft Eclogue, was a potter by trade, and fo his wife is here reprefented under the name of Teftylis. This old wo-. man, it feems, was a good housewife, and dreffed the dinner for the reapers with her own hands. "Mere de Virgile ne feroit-elle "point repréfentée icy, fous le nom La "Where Corydon and Thyrfis met, "Which the neat handed Phyllis de Teftilis? On fçait que le Pere "de Virgile étoit un Potier de terre "de fon métier. D'ailleurs il eft "naturel que la mere de Virgile, en 11. Allia ferpyllumque, &c.] bonne ménagere, fe foit charge Thefe herbs feem to have been used "dans fa famille d'apprêter le dîner by the Roman farmers to recruit the "des moiffonneurs." By this me- exhausted spirits of thofe who have thod of criticifing, we need not de-. laboured in the heat. Pliny informs fpair of finding out, not only the fa- us, that Garlick was much ufed in ther and mother of Virgil, but even, the country as a medicine; “Alall his relations and friends. To Tolium ad multa ruris praecipue me it appears very abfurd, that the mother of this wealthy Corydon, who had a thoufand lambs feeding on the mountains of Sicily, fhould have occafion to bufy herfelf in dreffing dinner for the reapers. Befides Theftylis is mentioned afterwards as a fort of rival of Alexis, having begged two kids of Corydon, ་་ "medicamenta prodeffe creditur." For ferpyllum, fee the note on ver. 30. of the fourth Georgick. A 13. Sole fub ardenti, &c.]The cicadae ufe to fing moft in hot weather, and in the middle of the day. See the note on ver. 328. of the third Georgick. 14. Nonne fuit fatius, &c.] Cowhich he defigned for Alexis. But, rydon declares, that the cruelty of ་་་་ Atque fuperba pati faftidia? nonne Menalcan? 15 N and her proud difdain ? Was it not better to endure Menalcas ? Though be was black, and thou art fair, yet, O charming boy, truft not too much in thy beauty. The white privet flowers drop on the ground, whilft the dusky byacimbs are gathered. NOTES. his former loves, however great, was more tolerable than the fcorn of Alexis, whom he exhorts not to truft too much to fo frail a thing as beauty. } 1 Amaryllidis.] Servius tells us, tells us, that the true name of Amaryllis was Leria, a girl whom Maecaenas gave to Virgil, as he did alfo Cebes, whom the Poet mentions under the feigned name of Menalcas. The learned Catrou is of opinion that Servius had no authority for it, and that they are rather fictitious perfons. In the firft Eclogue, Amaryllis was imagined to mean no lefs than Rome herfelf; but here she is degraded to a ruftick flave. tirely deftroyed by our finding that the Poet had finished all his Eclogues, before the quarrel between those two great perfons. 18. Alba liguftra cadunt.] It is not very eafy to determine what plant Virgil meant by liguftrum. All that can be gathered from what he has faid of it is, that the flowers are white and of no value. Pliny fays it is a tree; for in the twentyfourth chapter of the twelfth book, where he is fpeaking of the Cypros of Egypt, he ufes the following words; Quidam hanc effe dicunt "arborem quae in Italia Liguftrum " vocatur." Thus alfo we find in the tenth chapter of the twenty16. Quamvis ille niger, &c.] fourth book, "Liguftrum eadem. Servius, as he is quoted by Mafvi- "arbor eft quae in oriente Cypros." cius, has the following note on this In the eighteenth chapter of the fixpaffage "Quia Caefar Romanos, teenth book he tells us it grows in "Antonius Aegyptios habuit. An- watery places; "Non nifi in aquotonius niger dicitur propter Aegyp- "fis proveniunt falices, alni, potios, quos habuit." Burman won- "puli, filer, Liguftra tefferis utiders where Mafvicius met with this." liffima." If the Liguftrum of note; fince it is not to be found in any of the copies of Servius. It feems however to be of a piece with what we have found in the note on Alexim in the first line; where Alexis is faid to mean Auguftus Caefar. If we could be perfuaded to believe that it would not be difficult to imagine Menalcas to mean Mark Anthony, the great rival of Auguftus. But this imagination is en 66 Pliny was that which is now com- Alcanna I am despised by you, Alewis, Defpectus tibi fum, nec qui fim quaeris, Alexi and you do not confider who I am: NOTE 8. Theophraftus, contends that the Liguftrum of the Poets is the Convolvulus major, or Great Bindweed, which, he fays, has it's name a li ganda, because it binds itfelf about any trees or fhrubs that are near it, He obferves farther, that this flower muft be of a pure white; for which he quotes the verfe under confideration, and the following verses from Martial; "Quaedam me cupit, invide Pro Tota candidior puella cygno, Alcanna in Egypt, agreeing fufficiently with the Kumpos of Diofcorides but at the fame time he declares, that the Italian Liguftrum does not grow in that country. Nor does it's growing in watery places agree with the modern Liguftrum, which, according to all the Italian Botanifts, is found in woods and hedges in Italy as well as among us. Matthiolus, in his commentaries on Diofcorides, fays that Servius, among others, took the Liguftrum to be that fort of Convolvulus, which we call Great Bindweed'; " Quidami Liguftrum eam Convolvuli effe fpeciem autumant, quae fepibus, fruticibus et arbuftis fe And this from Pontanus; circumvolvit, ac etiam faepius << vitium palis in vinetis, flore canedido, lilii, feu calathi effigie, quam ego laevem effe fmilacem nunquam dubitavi: e quorum numero fuit Servius Grammaticus, Virgilii commentator Ecloga fecunda Bucolicorum. Nempe falfus, ut arbitror, quod neglexerit in hac hiftoria Plinium confulere, Diofcoridem, et alios de ftirpium na* tura differentes." Where Matthiolus found this opinion of Servius I cannot tell, unless he made ufe of fome copy very different from thofe which we now have. We find no more in our copies of Servius, than that the Liguftrum is a very white, but contemptible flower; guftrum autem flos eft candidiffimus, fed viliffimus." Bodaeus a He confiders alfo, that the common Stapel, in his commentaries on Liguftrum, or Priver, has a white "Li "Candida nec niveis ceffura li"guftra pruinis." Hence it is plain that the Liguftrum must be a perfectly white flower, being joined with fwans, filver, fnow, and lilies. To these authorities he might have added the following, which are quoted by La Cerda from Ovid'; "Candidior folio nivei Galatea liguftri." σε And from Claudian; Haec graditur ftellata rofis, háec alba liguftris." flower Quam dives pecoris nivei, quam lactis abundans, 20 bowrieb in cattle as subite as fnow, bow abounding in milk. NOTES. flower indeed, but not fo pure as to "Et tu, ne Corydonis opes def- Fer calathis violum, et nigro per- 4 But Parrhafius, as he is quoted by La Cerda, reads niveo inftead of nigro. I have fometimes fufpected, that we ought to read, 2 to be accounted the Liguftrum of Virgil, on account of it's name being derived from binding, a ligando from the pure whiteness of it's flower; and from it's being at the fame time a contemptible weed. Hence Corydon might, with great propriety, admonish Alexis not to truft too much to his fair complexion, fince the whiteft of all flowers fell to the ground without being gathered. We may also with good reafon fufpect, that our Privet, is not the plant intended, because the flowers are not fair enough, and yet are too sweet to be rejected with contempt. But it weighs fomething on the other fide, that Pliny has called the Liguftrum a tree in two different places. For though he might miftake, in thinking it to be the fame that grew in Egypt and in the Eaft; and might not be exact with regard to the place of it's growth; "Fer calathis violam nigram, et yet he could not easily be ignorant, "permifta liguftro." 6. However from thefe obfervations Bodaeus a Stapel infers that the liguftrum of the Poets is the lawn of Theophraftus, the guía a whether what they called Liguftrum in Italy was a tree, or a vile weed, and peft of the gardens. Nor is that argument to be wholly, flighted, which is taken from the ancient name, Liguftrum being preserved in of Diofcorides, and the convolvulus fome measure in the modern Italian major of the modern authors. It Guiftrico. In conformity to the has a flower whiter than any fwan or moft common opinion, I have tran→ fnow, and is at the fame time a flated it Privet; but if any one moft vile and noxious weed, rooted would change it for Bindweed, I out of all gardens, and unfit for gar- fhall not greatly contend with him. lands, withering, and lofing it's co- De Marolles tranflates it Privet ; lour as foon as gathered. It must It muft" Les fleurs blanches du troëfne be acknowledged, that the Great" tombent en un moment." Lord Bindweed has a very fair pretence Lauderdale tranflates it only "The "faireft Ibave a thousand lambs feeding Mille meae Siculis errant in montibus agnae: on the Sicilian mountains: NOTES. faireft flow'r." Dryden has it, White lillies lie neglected on the plain." Catrou alfo tranflates it lillies; "On laiffe faner les lys qui n'ont que ❝ de la beauté." This he does to give a better grace to his tranflation, being fatisfied that the plant in question is really the troefne or privet. But it is certainly wrong to put lilies in this place, for they do not fall neglected; but on the contrary are always mentioned with great refpect by the Poets. Befides, we fhall find before we have done with this Eclogue, that lilies made a part of the rural garland, which Corydon intended to prepare for Alexis Dr Trapp tranflates it Withbinds, by which I fuppofe he means the Bindweed already fpoken of. Dr Turner, one of our oldest English Botanifts, who was Phyfician to the Duke of Somerset, in the reign of Edward the Sixth, tranflates Convolvulus Withwynde, Byndweed, and Weedbynde; Gerard, who wrote in the time of Queen Elifabeth, calls it Withwinde, Bindeweed, and Hedge-bels: but the more modern writers call it only Bindweed; and, I think, the Gardeners about London commonly call it Barebind. Vaccinia nigra leguntur.] Many take the Vaccinium to be our Bilberry others will have it to be the berry of the Privet, imagining the alba liguftra to be the flower, and |